Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Are GAB's chickens coming home to roost?

I have no idea if Americans for Prosperity or the Democratic Party were trying to mislead people on the date of the elections. But there is a certain irony that complaints about whether they have done so will go to the Government Accountability Board. The GAB's breathtakingly bad decision to bifurcate the recalls on a partisan basis is not a necessary condition for that kind of mischief, but it certainly enables it.

It also makes it possible honest errors about when to vote.

I don't think this is the last we'll hear of confusion and accusations of trickery related to the dates of the recalls. I'm not accusing the GAB staff of partisan bias but I do think that they were guilty of very poor judgment.

11 comments:

Display Name said...

You have no idea because you looked at the AFP mailing and didn't find it misleading? Or because you didn't look at it? (Hint: It's not an official form. And who is it to be mailed to?)

Anonymous said...

"I have no idea if Americans for Prosperity or the Democratic Party were trying to mislead people on the date of the elections."

Hilarious! You do have an idea, given your involvement with the GOP and your knowledge of the partisan rancor in our state. So please stop kidding yourself.

BOTH sides have shown a propensity to bend the rules and outright lie within the past year. Do yourself a favor...call a spade a spade. In this particular case, there is a concerted effort by outside influences to screw with the election process in the state of Wisconsin for their own designs.

For heaven's sake, Professor, the "absentee ballot processing center" address is WRONG! "Typing error"??? Hardly.

Rick Esenberg said...

What I don't know is if either party was trying to mislead folks or just screwed up. (If, for example, AFP sent this mailing to their own supporters, then it was pretty clearly mistake.) Perhaps Foust can look into people's hearts by reading an admittedly incorrect document but I can't.

Rick Esenberg said...

And since I don't write anonymously I will not "call a spade a spade" without evidence of the card's suite.

Display Name said...

When the big letters up top say "OFFICIAL ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUEST" and "WISCONSIN APPLICATION FOR ABSENTEE BALLOT" but the little letters at the bottom say "This form is not an official form by the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board", do you think they were intending to inform or mislead? Was that just a typo, like the date?

There was a moment when they decided if they wanted to make this mailing look like something official or something from AFP. I think they leaned towards quasi-official. Yes, it clearly says AFP in other places, yes they say they only wanted to send it to the AFP faithful, but they wanted to generate a better response by making it look official. And they accidentally sent it to some solid Dems.

The address says your "application" goes to "Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center" but it is a post office box used by Wisconsin Family Action, a group sent by God to protect us from porn and the teaching of evolution. Another version of the mailing shows up at the Wisconsin Right to Life web site, another at Wisconsin Firearm Owners, Ranges, Clubs & Educators Inc..

What's the connection between these groups, deep in your heart?

Anonymous said...

I think we can safely call this spade a spade. And it's "suit" not "suite."

Anonymous said...

Google tells us that Cora P., the recipient of the fake AFP "absentee ballot request," wrote a letter to the Wisconsin State Journal questioning the need for the voter ID bill, and participates in the Wisconsin Progress Web site. So I think it's safe to assume that Americans for Prosperity didn't pull her name off its member list, or a Republican Party member list.

These people -- AFP -- are despicable.

Anonymous said...

David Koch is the chairman of the AFP Foundation. The Koch brothers have given it and its predecessor millions of dollars over the years. AFP is, believe it or not, a tax-exempt organization. And this is how it chooses to spend its money -- deceiving Democratic voters.

Anonymous said...

I AM NOT a democrat. And I'm pretty sure at some point or another I got onto AFP's mailing list.

And I got one of these mailers.

With the wrong date.

And Tuesday I got a call explaining the date was wrong.

I'm going to go with screw up. Of course, some folks will never believe that evil idiots incapable of performing even the most simple of tasks could possibly make a mistake.

Anonymous said...

Sure, anony 12:35 p.m.!

James Saxena said...

"I have no idea if Americans for Prosperity or the Democratic Party were trying to mislead people on the date of the elections." Hilarious! You do have an idea, given your involvement with the GOP and your knowledge of the partisan rancor in our state. So please stop kidding yourself. BOTH sides have shown a propensity to bend the rules and outright lie within the past year. Do yourself a favor...call a spade a spade. In this particular case, there is a concerted effort by outside influences to screw with the election process in the state of Wisconsin for their own designs. For heaven's sake, Professor, the "absentee ballot processing center" address is WRONG! "Typing error"??? Hardly.